Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo
U.S. Representative from Kansas' 4th Congressional District
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Todd Tiahrt
Personal details
Born	December 30, 1963 (1963-12-30) (age 47) Orange, California
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Susan Pompeo
Residence	Wichita, Kansas
Alma mater	U.S. Military Academy (West Point) Harvard Law School
Occupation	Attorney Businessman
Religion	Presbyterian

Michael Richard Pompeo (born December 30, 1963) is the U.S. Representative for Kansas's 4th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. He has also served as a Kansas representative on the Republican National Committee.

Early life, education, and early career

Pompeo attended the U.S. Military Academy where he majored in Mechanical Engineering, graduating first in his class. He subsequently graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He then worked as a lawyer for Williams & Connolly.^[1]

Business career

Pompeo founded Thayer Aerospace.^[2] He sold his interest in Thayer in 2006 and the company is now known as Nex-Tech Aerospace.

Pompeo serves as a trustee on the Koch Industries-funded Kansas Policy Institute (originally named the Kansas Public Policy Institute and then the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy), a conservative think tank.

U.S. House of Representatives

2010 elections

Pompeo on the campaign trail.

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas, 2010#District 4

Pompeo defeated Democratic nominee State Representative Raj Goyle, Libertarian nominee Shawn Smith, and Reform Party nominee Susan G. Ducey. Pompeo received 59% of the vote (117,171 votes), to 36% for Goyle (71,866).^[3]

Republican nomination

The Republican incumbent, Todd Tiahrt, ran for the U.S. Senate (thereby vacating his seat). In the contest to replace him, Pompeo won a five-candidate GOP primary election on August 3, 2010 with 39% of the vote. He bested State Senator Jean Schodorf (who received 24%), Wichita businessman Wink Hartman (who received 23%), and small business owner Jim Anderson (who received 13%). State Senator Dick Kelsey also ran for the nomination, but ended his campaign before the August primary and endorsed Pompeo.^[4][5][6][7]

General election

Immediately after winning the 2010 primary, Pompeo's campaign posted a link to a racist blog on its Facebook page and Twitter feed, introducing it as "here's a good read."^[8] The linked blog referred to President Barack Obama as an "evil Muslim Communist usurper"^[8] and used an ethnic slur (a "turban topper") to refer to Goyle.^[9][10][11] On August 11, Pompeo discovered that Josh Wells, his campaign's communications director, had "posted the link to the wrong Google alert then removed it an hour later.^[8] Pompeo claimed that the posting was a mistake made with "no malice".^[8] The next morning, Pompeo called Goyle and apologized and declared to the press that "the statements of the blogger in no way reflect my views. There is no place in campaigns or in public discourse for language of this nature."^[8] Pompeo chose not to fire or punish any of his staff as a result of this incident.

On August 12, 2010, SurveyUSA and KWCH-TV released a poll on the Kansas 4th Congressional district campaign between Pompeo and Goyle. According to the poll, in which 604 likely voters were interviewed, Pompeo led Goyle 49% to 42% with a margin of error of 4.1%.^[12][13]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Power

References

1. ^ Lefler, Dion (2010-07-29). "Pompeo hopes varied background gives him edge". Wichita Eagle. http://www.kansas.com/2010/07/23/1415735/pompeo-hopes-varied-background.html. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
2. ^ Wilson, Benet (2010-03-05). "Thayer Aerospace Founder Vies For Congress". Aviation Week. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=busav&id=news/awx/2010/03/05/awx_03_05_2010_p0-209736.xml&headline=Thayer%20Aerospace%20Founder%20Vies%20For%20Congress. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
3. ^ "House Results Map". The New York Times. http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/house. 
4. ^ "Live election results". Wichita Eagle. 2010-08-03. http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/03/1430843/live-election-results.html. Retrieved 2010-08-04. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Lefler, Dion; Ron Sylvester (2010-08-03). "Pompeo, Goyle to Meet in 4th District race". Wichita Eagle. http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/03/1431486/hard-fought-battle-nears-end-in.html. Retrieved 2010-08-04. "Republican National Committeeman Mike Pompeo survived a bruising GOP primary and Rep. Raj Goyle of Wichita steamrolled his Democratic opponent to set up the general election battle in the Kansas 4th Congressional District." 
6. ^ Miller, Tricia (2010-08-04). "Pompeo Likely To Replace Tiahrt". CQ Politics. http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/08/kansas-pompeo-hartman-schodorf.html. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
7. ^ D'Aprile, Shane (2010-08-04). "Pompeo wins GOP primary in Rep. Tiahrt's district". The Hill. http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/112553-pompeo-wins-gop-primary-in-rep-tiahrts-district. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Hegeman, Roxanne (August 13, 2010). "Kan. GOP candidate's campaign links to racist blog". Associated Press. Wichita, Kansas. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOZItmMKFte4NeHHkn7UZ9e6J9LwD9HIAFF00. Retrieved August 20, 2010. 
9. ^ Lefler, Don (August 13, 2010). "Pompeo apologizes to Goyle for link to slur". Wichita Eagle. http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/13/1444816/gizes-to-goyle-for-link-to-slur.html. Retrieved August 14, 2010. 
10. ^ "Kan. GOP candidate's campaign links to racist blog". http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOZItmMKFte4NeHHkn7UZ9e6J9LwD9HI7C380. Retrieved August 14, 2010. 
11. ^ Lefler, Dion (August 13, 2010). "Ethnic slur trips up GOP campaign in Kansas House race". Wichita Eagle. http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1775246/ethnic-slur-trips-up-gop-campaign.html. Retrieved August 15, 2010. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ "Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #16949". KWCH-TV. 2010-08-12. http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollPrint.aspx?g=6f36940b-7106-42c2-b160-a258f7ad8897&d=0. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
13. ^ "Survey: Goyle & Pompeo square off for US House seat". KWCH 12 Eyewitness News. 2010-08-12. http://www.kwch.com/news/campaign10/kwch-survey-jb-8-12-house-general,0,4536045.story. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 

External links

• Congressman Mike Pompeo official U.S. House site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Todd Tiahrt	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 4th congressional district January 3, 2011 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Steven Palazzo R-Mississippi	United States Representatives by seniority 404th	Succeeded by Ben Quayle R-Arizona

Persondata
Name	Pompeo, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1964
Place of birth	Orange, California
Date of death
Place of death